Art & Inspiration Projects that stalled and the reasons we hate them

Hi all just sold a 50 fleetline that I’ve had about 6 years and it’s been a stalled project for about 5 of those years.
Drove it the first year and it sucked with its manual huck drum brakes 411 rear end and non synchro trans just not fun going 70 kmh top speed!

So the tear down started parts replaced parts bought things getting done......... then I moved the first time , kids got a little older and it just sat.

Moved it 2 more times and this last year I actually started hating the car ! Every time I looked at it it seemed the list of what need to get done
Got longer and longer and my time got less and less

It was/is a great car no rust most parts collected just needed time and lots of it........ witch I did not have. The thought of spending 2-3 years of week ends on it just drove me nuts.

Sold it happy it’s gone now looking for a driver 54/55 ish to possibly late 60’s. Weekend projects are fine but it needs to stay a driver.

This is the first car that’s ever stopped me from completing it, different time in my life less time not sure but I’ve never not seen a car through to the end.

What about yoos guys any similar cars in your life?

 

My friend posed a math problem to me today.

52 X 78 = 4,056

Then he says that's the number of weekends the average American male gets. How many are already gone? How many will be unusable at the end?
How many good ones still to come and how are you going to spend them?

 

Damn, that's depressing. I picked a bad time to give up amphetamines.

 

Reality check

 

I'm going out to the garage now, I got parts to polish.

 

Just because all three of my projects are "stalled" doesn't meen I hate them.

 

I reel out the tape measure to the age you plan to be healthy to. 78? Ok now find your age now. How far apart are those two numbers. Yes it's depressing!! Get busy!!

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i started building a gun once, im glad i stalled on that project after reading that post!!!

 

Denny,this reminds me of a reply Randy made to a post several years ago and I found it. HRP

It can be cured ...

About 20 years ago, I had way too many projects and parts. I had a guy come over wanting to look at some Chevy race engine stuff I had ... and wanting to buy some of it. He had his Dad with him. His Dad looked around and said to me Which one of these projects means the most to you ? I had a 56 Ford Big Window F-100, a 49 Mercury coupe, a 55 Chevy ... my 1932 Ford roadster ( in pieces ).. 4 or 5 O/T hamb vehicle projects and a bunch of engines, transmissions and other assorted stuff. I said ... the 32 Ford roadster then he said You need to sell all this other stuff and just work on the roadster I thought to myself ... Yes right ... sure thing He then asked How old are you ? I said 41 ... He reached down into his pocket and pulled out a small tape measure. He pulled it out to 72 inches. He said this is the average life span of a man ... 72 years. After placing his fingers at the 41 inch mark ... he said You have already used up way over half of it. Do you think you will live long enough to finish all this stuff? I said sure ... and his son and I went back to wheeling and dealing. When the son and his father left ... I thought what a crazy old man. BUT ... as a few days and weeks went by, I kept thinking about what the older man had said. He was getting smarter every time I thought about what he said. So, over the next 6/8 months period ... I sold almost every off not related to the 32 Ford project. I then had a pocketful of ca$h. Anything and everything I needed for the 32 project ... was easily within my finacial reach ... for the first time in a LONG time. Within a year ... I had the 32 Roadster back together, new paint, new upholstery and and new running gear.

All because I sold a bunch of stuff and settled in on just one project at a time ... It can be done ...

 

I don't think I ever hated my stalled project, started an A V8 about 18 years ago and just now finishing it. I started it when a was building a banger powered pickup, decided to finish the pickup and then do the coupe. Finished the pickup and a friend offered to sell me a 50 Ford, bought it and got it going, drove it for a while and then sold it.
Helped my son with a couple of Mustangs, came across a 60 T-Bird always like them so it followed me home. Finished the T-Bird and drove it for a while then sold it, decided I had to finish the Sport Coupe or sell it since I'm way up on the tape measurer.
The coupe sat in the corner mocked up with junk piled on it for several years. Started on it again late last year and have made quite a bit of progress, I'm really enjoying working on it again and plan on having it going this year.
Sometimes it takes a while to get going on an old project but it's worth it. You have to decide weather it's worth it to you and then finish it or sell it.

 

While I think HRP nailed it, there may be a few more things involved. Just about all of us has jokingly called this car hobby an "addiction". But in fact, to some people, it is. "One is too many. 10 isn't enough." Just like whiskey to the drunk or dope to the junky, you can become addicted. And anything can be addictive, so you don't have to feel ashamed about.

I met a guy, many years ago, who collected bicycles. Schwinn's. I asked him how he got into it and he said, " I quit drinking and had a lot of cash and nothing else to do." Yup, that's insane. And the definition of insanity is, "doing or committing a non-constructive act over and over, with full knowledge of the outcome. Like spotting that rusty pile of crap, getting excited, buying it and hauling it home. To add to the pile of rusty crap you already have.

Then, there's greed and the "oneupmanship" that seemed to be in great supply at the car shows I used to go to. Some folks are into gathering shit, just because they can keep it from the other guy. They have no plan to build or sell anything because they get the pleasure of seeing you want it. That's their payoff.

Look in the mirror and find yourself.

 

I gave up on projects a couple of years ago and sold the last one for fifteen cents on the dollar here on the HAMB. I now spend time maintaining, upgrading and driving my '29 CCPU and Zipper. A lot more fun and easier on the wallet.

 

Danny, my brain and I have been having that conversation for some time now!

I think this is it in a nutshell as to why I balk at putting anything up for sale, it seems like that is the biggest motivation people have anymore for buying, at least when It comes to projects.
Besides some projects work well for other purposes..............storage.

 

I sold off anything that distracted me from my 34 coupe. Best move I ever made.

 

The thing that stalls my projects is the parts I need are no longer easily found locally. I used to be able to go to a local auto parts store or junk yard and get what I needed. Now they're all gone. Even the rebuilders are gone. The parts stores that are left barely carry anything and they have order a lot of stuff. The stuff that they do have is crap quality. I'm ordering most of what I need and that takes time. Right now I'm waiting for a carb spacer and delivery is delayed for some reason by the post office.
@#!$%

 

Life gets in the way too.
The dreams survive the obstacles for a while and you keep the project around hoping for a break in the confusion. Then it becomes a reminder of all the fires you had to put out instead of building your own fire.

 

Someone showed this to me years ago, (in my 50's) definitely applies as we are aging. Take a tape measure, run it out 77", the average age of a baby boomers male, now subtract your age, example I'm 70, 7 inches (years left to make the curve) THAT PUTS THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE. Now is the time, no excuses GIT-R DUN

 

Funny thing about years, looking forward they are long & looking back they are short.

 

I have fooled myself into this "If I keep trading my rusty junk for other peoples rusty junk some how I will come out with the best pile of rusty junk". I hardly ever sell anything. I just have years of junk.

 

I dragged my Henry J home about the same time as my son's first car, a 65 Camino project. I made his the priority, and my Henry J still sits. I tinker with it now and then, but it needs an influx of cash to get things moving for real. I don't hate it though. It's still my dream to get it done.

Devin

 

For me it's Scary how fast the time HAS flown by and IS flying by. My Mom told me this when I was a kid " The Older You Get, The Faster the Clock Runs" Very True in my case.

 

Great thread! Seems I am the right group and in good company.
Exhibit A: 1957 Studebaker Champion. Intentions of making her a mild custom , complete with rear fender skirts and shaved rear door handles. But, blew the engine and tranny and never replaced them because of money and time. She has sat in an auto cacoon in my back yard for 4 years now. Have both money and time now and have better car to play with. My 12 year old has shown interest so it might at least stay in the family. ...

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When you are 5 yrs old, 1 yr is 1/5 of your life span so far and it takes FOREVER for Christmas to come around again.

When you are 50, 1 yr is just 1/50 of your life span so far. For perspective, at age 50, 1/5 of you're life span would be 10 yrs. At age 5 plus 1/5 you'd be 6 while at age 50 plus 1/5 You'd be 60.
Hell yea it goes faster

 

I’ve built probably 10-15 cars since I was 15 build them ( usually a winter burn up, every night wrenching, welding etc ) weekends farhering parts from the scrap yards and buy and sell/ swap meets and go-go-go!!!)
Drive it for a summer or 2 maybe 3 then flip it for the next one and repeat.

I was single with lots of extra money ( not a lot of money but no responsibilities for it other then having fun !) and time no wife , kids, house or major responsibilities to take up said time.


So when this project stalled I tried and I tried and I tried to get it going again but there was always something more important for my money or my time.


Weekend in the garage...... time with the kids ...KIDS!!!! Weekend in the garage fix stuff around the house HOUSE !!!! And forget about weeknights , I’m nearing 40 and I’m beat by 6 pm !!!

Don’t know how I worked all day, spent all night ‘till 2 or 3 in the am wrenching on my own junk then back at work for 730 !!!!

Just went to look at a 63 fairlane clean car needs body work and some cleaning up but an honest driver. A little steep for what I want to spend but something I need to think about.

Weekend projects I can handle, but a full blown rebuilt like my fleetline will send me into a tail spin

 

It's not my project I hate, it's all the other things that get in the way of me getting it finished. This work thing is getting in the way of my fun time, now much more than ever before. Financial obligations are eating up my play money, and thanks to our wonderful Govt, I can no longer work harder to make more money. I'll not go into any details here, but if you want to know, send me a convo and I'll tell you what I'm talking about.
And I can add in the weather, everybody talks about it, but nobody can change it. I have an open carport to work under, but no protection from the cold, so this time of the year, nothing gets done. I've gotten too old and stiff to work out in freezing temps anymore unless it's a have to, fun stuff sits until warmer temps.
And lastly, I thought we were through with raising kids, but we now have our only grandson raising him. Long story I won't go into here, but he had nobody but us to take care of him and I sure as hell wasn't going to let him go into the Govt system. It's not the money that bothers me, it's all the time it takes away from other things I need or want to do. It is what it is though, and the car can wait if it has too. He is more important to me.

 

Well when you read my signature it's pretty easy to see I am right there at the top level of the too many projects club roster.
I don't hate any of my projects but some have a lot lower priority than others. Each is something that I have wanted to build over the years an I have been accumulating parts for the truck and the Model A. The speedster racer thing that I am building won't take a lot of money outside of buying tires but it will take some time. There is no criteria for it except that the end product has to look like a viable early 30's two seat Indy or Grand Prix car. The look has to say race car in that time frame. No specific parts as long as they don't look too new and add to the build plan.

 

I'm happy with all my projects, and at 67 seriously doubt anyone of them will ever hit the street as a finished registered vehicle, and I'm fine with that. Never had a finished Hot Rod, you can't miss something you never had. Bob

 

Since I've been married, I keep it down to one car project at a time. I prefer a running/driving car I can do fairly big jobs during winter months and have back on the road by spring. This is included with ongoing projects in the house, two boats, and the motorcycle.

And I don't live in a neighborhood where I can have non running vehicles sitting in my yard.

 

Long hours on the job and old age.....